This is a fascinating tale on many levels.
Courageously filmed in Nazi-occupied Denmark, the film shows how vulnerable people (harmless "witches") are hunted and burned at the order of a corrupt state ("Where did you first meet the Devil?"), which is nothing if not efficient ("Ask her if she knows of others"). Much of the horror here turns on the lack of options for the victims.
"Free me from the stake!"
"Have no fear. The Lord is merciful."
We also have a story here of forbidden love. A young woman condemned to a sort of death-in-life brazenly reaches out for love. In a world gone insane, she trusts another human being. He's a charmer, but society's rot means that their time together starts to run out even as it begins.
There are strong performances here by Lisbeth Movin as Anne, a victim of the times; Prebin Lerdorff Rye as Martin, her feckless lover; Thorkild Roose as Absalon, a bloodless functionary of the power structure, and Sigrid Neiiendam as his beyond-icy, merciless mother. An unhappy family collapses in on itself, and everybody dies, if only spiritually.
Filmed in Old Masters-style black and white, this is one wrenching depiction of Man at his worst.
Courageously filmed in Nazi-occupied Denmark, the film shows how vulnerable people (harmless "witches") are hunted and burned at the order of a corrupt state ("Where did you first meet the Devil?"), which is nothing if not efficient ("Ask her if she knows of others"). Much of the horror here turns on the lack of options for the victims.
"Free me from the stake!"
"Have no fear. The Lord is merciful."
We also have a story here of forbidden love. A young woman condemned to a sort of death-in-life brazenly reaches out for love. In a world gone insane, she trusts another human being. He's a charmer, but society's rot means that their time together starts to run out even as it begins.
There are strong performances here by Lisbeth Movin as Anne, a victim of the times; Prebin Lerdorff Rye as Martin, her feckless lover; Thorkild Roose as Absalon, a bloodless functionary of the power structure, and Sigrid Neiiendam as his beyond-icy, merciless mother. An unhappy family collapses in on itself, and everybody dies, if only spiritually.
Filmed in Old Masters-style black and white, this is one wrenching depiction of Man at his worst.